Ymateb (response)

Ymateb (response)

Richard Parry and Chris Glynn, creative directors of the Coleridge in Wales Festival, made a performance at the National Museum of Wales on January 13th 2016 to mark the beginning of the Coleridge in Wales festival.

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YMATEB (response)

Masque and Antemasque

RM Parry and Chris Glynn, artistic directors of the Coleridge in Wales Festival, respond to the exhibition Silent Explosion: Ivor Davies and Destruction in Art at the National Museum of Wales on Hen Galan, Old New Year’s Eve.

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Mari Lwyd.

The skull of a horse. On a pole. Covered in a sheet.

She is…

a relic from a Roman horse cult, the horse of Rhiannon, a pagan ritual, a holy Mary, accompanied by Mr Punch, attended by carols, taken round the pubs, put of the stable by the birth of Christ, running through the centuries between the years, three men going to a neighbours door on a winter afternoon, a drop of the milky way, a song your grandfather sang, the sentinel of the dead of all ages, seeking entrance, rejected, admitted, licentious, condemned, feared, loved, cherished, remembered, encountered, missed, the Holy Family travelling to exile in Egypt, related to an ancient Romanian goat head ritual, unrecorded, put upon, carrying, preceded by a sergeant, dressed with bells, barked at, red-eared, , …

There are many myths of origin.

And here, on a doorstep, an outsider and an insider are negotiating passage, teasingly, tonight on the old New Year - in an institution mounted on a pole and covered by a sheet – inhabiting an aesthetic of hosting using playful words and song.

How do we negotiate symbols within those institutions in which we learn the language of hosting each other?

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This Hen Galan ‘happening’ would not have been possible without the very generous contributions of time and commitment by the people participating. After the event we will make our way down to Yr Oriel Fach café in the Museum entrance hall to seek refreshment. Blwyddyn newydd dda.